𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬

《 4 》

A sudden knock caused us all to turn to the door. "I'll get it." Mateo said, stepping over to the door and opening it. Aurora stood on the other side of it, a tray of what I recognized to be tea in her hands. She gave us all the sweetest smile; entering and placing the tray down on a table.

"Pensé que quizás quisieran un poco de té." She grabbed a cup, handing one over to Denise, then Nathan, until every one of us held a cup of tea in our hands. Her soft voice didn't even cause an echo throughout the room, unlike ours.

[I thought you all would like a bit of tea.]

"Gracias Aurora" I replied as I led her out of the room. She hummed contentedly as she strolled down the hall. When I saw her disappear down the stairs, I turned to the rest and locked the door behind me.

[Thank you / Thanks]

"You were saying, Gabriella?" Continued Denise, placing her empty cup of tea down. She reached up to Mateo, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him down. He looked startled as she gently grabbed his cup, letting go of him as she turned to me once again. I shrugged, before clearing my throat.

"I want you to look over the past three days, check if anything seems strange." My gaze fixed on the monitor, watching the same scenes from today replay over and over again. Isabella leaned her back against the wall, standing beside me with a nod of agreement. Denise raised her hand, signaling for me to wait while she swallowed the tea in her mouth. Mateo simply looked at her empty handed. I could see he was a bit annoyed by her.

"Alright but, please leave your phones here with me while I see if I can track the call signal, find any other details." She finally replied, placing Mateo's empty cup of tea beside hers. Nathan just stared at us from the corner of the room. His eyes met mine, before tilting his head in the door's direction. He said he wanted to discuss something with me earlier.

I unlocked the door, motioning for him to follow me. He wasted no time in following after me. We left for my office without saying another word. As soon as we reached the door, he walked past me, opening the door for me. I entered before him, his hand reaching behind his back to lock the door.

"What did you want to discuss with me?" I walked around my desk, taking my black leather gloves off. His gaze followed me as he sat down, his hand buried in his pocket before he pulled out his phone.

"In the morning, one of the men came up to me, he found this," He slid his phone across the desk and over to me. "On the other side of the vineyard's fence." A bunch of pictures where empty gasoline containers leaned against the fence, a few tree branches crossed over them to attempt and cover them. "I knew you had plans of going to the landing strip, so I stayed behind and waited for the right moment to tell you."

"Right, well better late than never." I sighed, leaning back on my chair while I typed the password to my laptop. He grabbed his phone, reluctantly placing it back in his pocket. "Look," I grabbed the computer, turning it sideways so he could see the screen.

"This," I pointed towards a map appearing on the screen. "Is the vineyard's escape route, an emergency escape route." My finger traced the outline of a dirt road on the very edge of the map. "The vineyard is extremely large, you said how many hours later was it that the guards reported the fire?" His eyes examined the screen, before turning to me.

"An hour after the majority of us left for the funeral." He paused, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked back at the screen. "But it's possibly more than one person doing this, no one would've ever been able to cover the whole place in gasoline in just twenty minutes. Guards patrol that area every ten minutes." I nodded, looking back at the screen.

"Glad you get my point." I looked outside through the glass sliding door which led to the balcony. The night was already settling in, only a few rays of sunlight shining through. "I want extra vigilance on the perimeter, and double the amount of guards we have on the base and around the mansion." He remained silent, his hand lightly scratching his chin.

We remained silent for a brief moment, until he spoke up. "I have a bad feeling about this, boss." I nodded, carefully shutting the laptop. I do too. And I'm starting to doubt if I should stay back here in Spain, or go make my first ever appearance in Las Vegas. As the leader, representing the Díaz Mafia.

My parents always covered both mine and Isabella's identities as males, so we wouldn't become targets, or just to protect us from the rest of the world. The only ones who know that our true gender is female, are the Americans. My father trusted them with the secret, and they swore to keep their word and remain silent. The only thing our Mafia has kept a secret is their deaths. Everyone still believes they are alive, or so I hope they do.

Finally, I opened my mouth to speak. "Nathan, you go and inform everyone about the security changes. Then get some rest, we're leaving in the morning. It's a fifteen hour flight, and I want everyone ready." Not to mention I want to arrive there a day before the event. I reached behind my head, grabbing the hair tie and pulling it, letting all my hair down.

"Alright, have a good night boss." He stood up, walking over to the door before disappearing out of my sight.

. . .

I couldn't sleep, trying to figure out what to do with the place after we leave for Vegas. It's not like I haven't traveled before, but a strange feeling in my chest wouldn't let me find some peace. My mind felt like it was fighting a whole war with myself, trying to convince myself everything would be under control.

The clock marked 1:00am. I got up, turning on the lights to my room as I entered the bathroom. Insomnia was getting the best of me, and I couldn't allow it. My hand reached for my robe, allowing it to slip off my bare shoulders after preparing the bathtub. The cold feeling in my skin was soon replaced with warmth as I stepped inside the bathtub, throwing my undergarments away into the laundry basket. I felt a large amount of tension release from my shoulders as I leaned back, the soft foam covering my body up to my chest.

I sat there for what felt like forever, just rethinking everything. No, I wasn't going to miss my chance and make my appearance in Las Vegas, but I hesitated at the very beginning. It would be my chance to reveal the truth to the world, that the real heir to the Díaz family is a woman. The first ever Donna. I needed to stop living under my father's reputation and shadow, but to create my own. Gain everyone's respect, just like any other.

After a few minutes, I reached for my towel, wrapping it around my body as I stepped out of the bathtub. I watched as the water traveled down the drain, leaving it completely empty once again. The cold air hit my body like a literal ice barrier as I stepped out of the bathroom. I quickly entered my walk-in closet, dropping my towel while I reached for a set of clothes.

Finally, I laid in bed, wrapping myself between the large comforter. After getting comfortable, I reached my arm out towards the lamp in my nightstand. Just as I was about to turn it off, I paused, looking at my two suitcases placed beside the door. I refused to hesitate and stand back up to unpack everything and stay back here. It was my chance, one I wouldn't let go down the drain that easily.

My hand reached for the switch, turning the lamp off. The room was now fully dark, the only source of light being the moonlight coming through the clear sliding door. Did I lock it? Gosh, yes I did, I'm just being paranoid.